The Wolf Man Preview

Along with vampires, zombies and the Frankenstein monster, werewolves are a firm favourite in the horror cinema pantheon. Like the vampire, the werewolf has its origins in folklore but while our modern understanding of our befanged friends was shaped by Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and its movie adaptations, our understanding of the werewolf is strongly influenced by the 1941 Universal horror film The Wolf Man, scripted by Curt Siodmak.

Universal was hugely influential in defining movie monsters and horror cinema. Although the horror genre became popular in the silent era, it really came to the fore in the 1930s when Universal had a series of genre smash hits. Nineteen thirty-one saw the release of Dracula and Frankenstein, and these were followed by hits with other monsters - The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Werewolf Of London (1935) - and a cycle of sequels featuring offspring, offshoots and face-offs.

Werewolf Of London hasn't gone done in history as one of the best Universal horrors, but they got it right with The Wolf Man six years later. Siodmak not only drew on folklore, he also consolidated various aspects of werewolf lore, such as susceptibility to silver and being affected by the full moon.

The original movie would become a firm favourite of a young Puerto Rican called Benicio Monserrate Rafael Del Toro Sánchez. Scott Stuber, one of the producers of Universal's 2009 remake of The Wolf Man, told 'Empire Online' that "Benicio's a huge Wolfman fan. He's kind of the origin of this thing. The Wolfman is one of his favourite movies of all time - he's got Wolfman memorabilia all over his house. He's just someone who has a real passion for this." Benicio Del Toro as The Wolf Man? That just sounds too good to be true. But true it is, with the film scheduled for an April 2009 release.